Addiction as a service feature;

~ the incorporation of game mechanics into a web service (specifically www.iliketext.com), as a means of increasing user participation and interest.

(A work in progress. Last edited: 01-03-2010)

This is a short piece of writing, not really focusing on the reasoning and rationale behind using game mechanics in a web-service to promote user participation, but more a look at what elements of game mechanics would apply to a specific service (namely: www.iliketext.com), without having a negative effect on the service's profile or perceived public images for those using the service. As well as drawing in new users, to widen the user-base & usage, without negatively impacting on the quality of content generated by the user.

Possible elements/ selection of Game-mechanics/mechanisms to consider:

Goals - This is the most general sort of victory condition, which can be broad enough to encompass any method of winning, but here refers to game-specific goals that are usually not duplicated in other games. An example is the checkmate of a king in chess.

Response: Quite suited/Applicable, due to the fact that the webservice is focused around the collection of texts, much like some trading-card games, goals could be attributed to the collection of texts, quite easily.

Turns - Not applicable, the webservice does not allow for turn based interaction, and I feel limiting useage to turns may lower access frequency, and thus harm participation and interest.

Action points - These control what players may do on their turns in the game by allocating each player a budget of “action points” each turn. These points may be spent performing various actions according to the game rules, such as moving pieces, drawing cards, collecting money, etc. This type of mechanic is common in many of what are called "German-style board games".

Cards - These involve the use of cards similar to playing cards to act as a randomiser and/or to act as tokens to keep track of states in the game. A common use is for a deck of cards to be shuffled and placed face down on or near the game playing area. When a random result is called for, a player draws a card and what is printed on the card determines the outcome of the result.

Response: Possible application, the current feature of iliketext.com called 'new for you' can be seen to represent a deck of cards that is in some way random, and in some ways tailored to each player/user... these could be reassessed to note the possible applications of this type of game-mechanic.

Capture/Eliminate - In some games, the number of tokens a player has on the playing surface is related to his current strength in the game. In such games, it can be an important goal to capture opponent's tokens, meaning to remove them from the playing surface.

Catch-up - Some games include a mechanic designed to make progress towards victory more difficult the closer a player gets to it. The idea behind this is to allow trailing players a chance to catch up and potentially still win the game, rather than suffer an inevitable loss once they fall behind. This may be desirable in games such as racing games that have a fixed finish line.

Dice - These involve the use of dice, usually as randomisers. Most dice used in games are the standard cubical dice numbered from 1 to 6, but increasing numbers of games make use of polyhedral dice or dice marked with symbols other than numbers. The most common use of dice is to randomly determine the outcome of an interaction in a game. An example is a player rolling dice to determine how many board spaces to move a game token.

Movement - Many board games involve the movement of playing tokens. How these tokens are allowed to move, and when, is governed by movement mechanics.

Response: Very remote application, See below ('Tile-laying').

Resource management - Many games involve the management of resources. Examples of game resources include game tokens, game money, and game points. Resource management involves the players establishing relative values for various types of available resources, in the context of the current state of the game and the desired outcome (i.e. winning the game). The game will have rules that determine how players can increase, spend, or exchange their various resources. The skilful management of resources under such rules allows players to influence the outcome of the game.

Tile-laying - Many games use tiles - flat, rigid pieces of a regular shape - that can be laid down on a flat surface to form a tessellation. Usually such tiles have patterns or symbols on their surfaces, that combine when tessellated to form game-mechanically significant combinations.

Response: Remote application, the only application of this mechanism, that i could see, is in the production of infographics (based on data collected from user activity) - would require aditional brainstorming/development.

Game modes - A game mode is a distinct configuration that affect how other game mechanics behave. A game with several modes will present different settings in each one, changing how a particular element of the game is played. This is used to vary gameplay, often to avoid the boredom of repetition. Changing modes while the game is ongoing can be used as a means to increase difficulty and provide additional challenge.

Response: Possible application, there is a possible application of this in that Goals/challenges could be an added feature, that is not enabled by default. meaning that normal users of the service could elect to take part in the challenges to improve their experince of the service (in such cases as when they get bored of the default functions)

Goals/Challenges: with possible applications to a texts based web-service

List of possible goals and challenges that would apply to iliketext.com, that points would/could be awarded for. List of possible applications of points earned - Rewards. Recommendations from Yahoo developer network : design patterns
  • Achievements, like most reputation mechanisms, should encourage quality participation over mere repetitious activity. So, don't reward a user's "20th game played." Rather you should reward their "20 wins in one season."
  • It may be useful to develop a number of 'first-time' achievements (e.g., 'First Review posted', 'First Recipe Written', 'First Comment Received'.)
    • Make these achievements worth less than other, more difficult ones
    • Don't continue to reward more of the same behavior. These 'first' achievements are useful for encouraging people to try new and novel features, but don't reward them for gaming those features repeatedly.
  • List the available Achievements for your product, so that users will know which ones are available to them.
    • o Also, indicate the ones they've achieved already. o Keep some achievements "locked" or grayed-out until their display has been earned.
  • Collectible Achievements should not be confused with Points, although you could intermix the two (for example, award a certain number of points for each achievement earned).
  • Exclusivity - Feel free to be fairly generous with collectible achievements. Every member of your community should have easy access to some achievements. But also keep some rarer achievements in short supply: make those more difficult to obtain.
I have, since I started writing this peice, found numerous sites telling me what I've only just figured out for myself, like the folowing from http://www.designingsocialinterfaces.com/patterns/Main_Page

"...the fascinating intersection between game design and social design that’s opening up new possibilities for social experiences in game environments and introducing playful elements to social interfaces. An application doesn’t have to literally be a game or be presented as a game to employ many of the same design techniques that make games fun to play. "

I suppose the internet is so vast with so many people specializing in every kind of field, that it's silly to think no one has thought of something already, its both deflating and inspiring.

sigh...

A thought in progress
Written by Christopher de beer